National context

Across the country, people felt a sharp increase in the cost of everyday living in 2022. The following statistics are just a few examples of how household bills have risen nationally and the number of people this has thrown into financial crisis.

• The threshold at which people experience destitution, where they are unable to meet their barest physical needs to stay warm, dry, clean and fed, has increased significantly. More information can be found in the Destitution in the UK - income thresholds for October 2022 report
• 90% of low-income households on Universal Credit are currently going without essentials and almost half of households saw their benefits payments reduced by deductions and caps. Read more about Reforming Universal Credit to ensure we can all afford the essentials in hard times.

Recent price rises taken from the Office for National Statistics between January 2022 and January 2023 will be particularly felt by those who were already struggling to cope financially.

• 31% increase in the price for milk, cheese and eggs
• 15-16% increase in the price of essential food items
• 9% increase in restaurant and cafe prices
• 5% increase in the price for housing rent

Due to an 89% increase in domestic fuel, the goverment partially mitigated this increase with support schemes. These schemes were subject to age or benefits related eligibility and included:

• Energy Price Guarantee
• Energy Bills Support Scheme
• Winter Fuel Payments
• Cold Weather Payments

You can view a comprehensive measure of inflation that reflects changes in the price of everyday items on the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) website.

Interest rates and bank rate rises have affected those with mortgages and people paying interest on loans:

• Bank interest rates rose 11 times between December 2021 and March 2023, from 0.1% to 4.25%.

In combination, these price rises led to unprecedented requests for support. Citizens Advice cost of living dashboard shows figures for 2022 in England and Wales:

• Over 200,000 people were helped with crisis support (food bank referrals and emergency charitable support), a 48% increase on the previous year.
• Three quarters of those people needing crisis support were being helped for the first time.
• The number of people helped with energy issues was more than 50% higher than in 2021, and more than double the number helped in 2020.
• Citizens Advice cost of living dashboard shows 27,521 people who were unable to top up their prepayment meters, an increase of over 19,000 more people than in 2021.